I’m so excited to share the Poppy Dress and Briar Embroidery from Peony Patterns‘ very first collection! The dress designer, Natasha Chrismas, used to be a designer for Little Lizard King and recently decided to start her own pattern company. Testing this dress was super fun and I was SO inspired by the incredible talent in the tester pool!
And a bunch of firsts for me on this pattern test too!
- My first time doing hand embroidery beyond counted cross stitch and long stitch! (And my first time doing any hand embroidery in over 10 years!!) You might see more in the future!
- Wolf & Rabbit’s newest Euro organic cotton poplin! DIVINE!
- I decided to change my website logo and watermark! I hope you like it!
- I made more of a concerted effort to take the pics during the golden hour (the 1 hour before sunset)
About the Poppy Dress Pattern
- Available in size 1-14
- Designed for wovens
- Sleeveless
- Optional ruffles on bodice
- Button back with placket
- Lined bodice with enclosed seams
- 3 skirt options: tiered, dress (vintage length), top
- Layered PDF
- Full tutorial with photographed steps
- Tutorial includes instructions on how to blend sizes for a perfect fit
Poppy is just so gorgeous and there are TONS of ways to make it your own! I recently watched the Craftsy Heirloom Sewing class (good news! Bluprint is changing its name back to Craftsy and is transitioning to new ownership!) and I’m so inspired to incorporate the techniques I’ve learned in that into a future dress! I’d love to try lace insertion and/or Madeira Applique some time! Pintucks would also be stunning!
My daughter is 8 1/2″ and measures 5 for chest, 4 for waist, and between 8 and 10 for height. I bended the 5, 4 and 8 together and then used a smaller seam allowance around the waist seam. In hindsight I should have added a little bit of length to the skirt (when I made a muslin, the 10 length in the bodice was too long, but I think a 10 skirt with the 8 bodice would have been perfect).
In the future, I plan to make a blog post sharing all the different ways you can gather fabric together. The instructions have you do the 2 rows of basting stitches and then pull. I actually used my ruffler foot instead – now that I’ve worked out how to use it, I’m loving it for ruffling woven fabric!
About the Briar Embroidery
I’ve been wanting to get into doing some slower sewing techniques lately, so testing out the Briar embroidery was the perfect excuse to do just that! The pattern includes suggested DMC threads but you can totally use whatever colors you like (that’s what I did!).
The instructions are great for newbies to hand embroidery. Photographs show each embroidery stitch. There’s also instructions on how to complete your project for wall hanging, and tips on sewing on clothing.
The Briar template is available in a 2″ and 3″ size. I used the 3″ size for my dress.
About the Fabric
Wolf & Rabbit has been one of my favorite fabric designers for the last few years and she recently added Euro organic cotton poplin to her lineup. This poplin is about the same weight as premium quilting cotton, slightly smoother, and with better drape. Be sure to join the Wolf & Rabbit Facebook group so that you get alerts for presales and retail releases (pricing is the same for both, but her most popular designs sell out quickly, so presale is better if you’re not in a hurry).
Summary
I hope you snag the Poppy Dress pattern! It’s so pretty, and would be beautiful in so many girls’ wardrobes! My daughter has declared that it’s her party dress and her favorite parts are the ruffles and Briar embroidery. She wore it for probably 4 days in a row after we took the photos (in between changing into swimsuits for sprinkler time!). She’s worked out that she can even button it up herself when she twists it around!
For the next week, you can get both these new patterns — and the rest of the Peony Patterns collection — for 30% off (ends July 28, 2020).
I can’t wait to see what Peony Patterns comes up with next 🙂
- Wolf & Rabbit Pale Pink 100% Organic cotton poplin
- Wolf & Rabbit Sweetheart Floral 100% Organic cotton poplin
- Peony Patterns Poppy Dress Pattern
- Peony Patterns Briar Embroidery Pattern
- Trim – Hobby Lobby
- DMC floss – #154, #924, #151, #152, #677
auschick sews 
Thank you for sharing your story and your delightful daughter with us. I enjoy your pictures and writing very much. Your procedure is very helpful to me. 🥰
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You’re welcome! Thanks for stopping by 🙂
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Beautiful work Natasha! I’m also in VA (around Richmond )! I found your link via the peonypatterns FB group 🙂
Do you have any tips for attaching the trim to the sleeves? I would love to try details like that but I’m not sure how it’s added on.
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Thanks! Ooh if you want to join our northern VA sewing group on Facebook, look up “sew nova”.
I hemmed the ruffle per instructions, then I used my edge stitch foot and a narrow zig zag to attach the trim. After that, I assembled according to the instructions.
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